UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

“This is a slow motion genocide. So two million people, the population of Gaza, are denied freedom of movement… And I can go on and on telling you about the destruction of infrastructure and the difficulties we are facing on a daily basis here in Gaza.”

Multiple political, security, economic or religious factors are behind these waves of uprooted refugees and immigrants fleeing their home country for countries they have only heard of. Political and security reasons include genocide and ethnic cleansing, as was the case with Palestinian refugees in 1948 and the Rohingya refugees nowadays.

A call for international human rights defenders to come to Palestine mid May (May 13 – May 19th) 2019 to support the cultural boycott of the Eurovision Singing Contest in Tel Aviv.… Whilst the colonization forces prepare historical Palestine for the upcoming Eurovision singing contest, the stage is also being set for further oppression and genocide of the Palestinian people.

The marchers unfurled a massive Palestinian flag and carried it down Mission Street from the 24th Street and Mission BART station, past vendors sprinkling chili and lime on fruit cups, past the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and past produce markets where customers juggled plastic bags of avocados and corn in their arms while taking videos on their cell phones of the passing throng.“People, people, choose a side, human rights or genocide?” the demonstrators chanted.

“Israel is a country that openly practices ethnic cleansing of Palestinians,” Mugilan said. “Even today innocent Palestinian school kids are being executed by Israel’s state-sponsored terror. It is important to show that as a community we stand in solidarity with the oppressed and the underprivileged.”Mugilan also objected to claims that BDS is anti-semitic, saying it is specifically targeted at the Israeli government, not anyone of a particular religion or ethnicity.“BDS is not a campaign that targets Jews but is a campaign against the practices and policies of a state that exercises genocide, crimes against humanity, acts of racism, and apartheid,” he said.

To Assil, it’s actually Khan’s perspective as an informed outsider that allowed her to capture nuance and present a clear chorus of voices. “Obviously, the Palestinian community is one of many that has experienced war and genocide and imperialism. Khan is in a unique position to understand how all those struggles are connected,” she says. “It’s important to evaluate those intersections and see that it’s not just one microcosm or one group of people. She comes from that history. She understands the root causes.”

… the current Israeli election offers but two possible policy outcomes: more of the same and far worse. The opposition “Blue and White” alliance is committed to maintaining this status quo, as if armed oppression can be continued indefinitely or judged to be anything other than an ethical travesty—or, let me say it, anything other than a betrayal of Jewish ethics. The opposition alliance has no plans for negotiations, none for peace, and none for justice. Its clearest pledge is that no Palestinian or Arab citizens of Israel will be brought into its government: its clearest stance is, in short, a commitment to racism. As for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s electoral alliance, its candidates talk brazenly of annexing the West Bank—a project given new impetus by Donald Trump’s recent pronouncement that it is time for the U.S. to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. And since these same Israeli politicians are unequivocal that Israel must have a Jewish majority, the proposed annexation of the West Bank portends ethnic cleansing, even genocide.

The AIPAC conference kicked off on Sunday amid protests by Palestinian rights advocates who waved Palestinian flags outside the Washington Convention Center. “I’m here today because it’s time that the world understands what the reality is in occupied Palestine,” Donna Nassor, an activist, said at the rally. “It’s been 70 plus years of incremental genocide. I’m also here because the American people need to understand what our tax dollars are doing and how it is causing suffering to Palestinians, as we support war criminals in Israel.”

I found this little video on YouTube of Irish MP Richard Boyd Barrett reading out horrifically vile statements from Israeli ministers from 2014 and 2015. The video was posted in 2015, and comes from the Questions to the Taoiseach in the Dail, the Irish parliament… Barrett makes the point that these are official statements of the-then current government of Israel, including the advocacy of genocide, including children, and calling them snakes.

…food represents so much more than blind consumption. Food is what unites us. It brings us closer to our loved ones through gatherings, and sharing secret recipes that lasted generations. Food is a happy occasion.

Sadly, food is also political, particularly for the Palestinians. This has become abundantly clear as Israel continues its cultural genocide of Palestine through the theft of food culture.